I personally think this is one of those songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" or Faith No More's "Epic," a meditation on a general topic where the exact subject is intentionally ambiguous. Clearly there's a simple lesson that's hard to learn and easy to deny. What is it? That you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling, i.e., you can't think or act your way out of love? That you can't skip or stop heartbreak? That you can't make someone love you if they don't? That your past affects your future? That the protagonist doesn't like boys in that way? All seem like valid interpretations, all inspired by the experiences that built the song and the imagery in it.
Since I brought them up, the other two songs, though probably not associated outside this comment, talk about something that's right in front of you yet can't be grasped. In the case of "Blowin'," it's probably an evident truth denied (sort of like "Least Complicated"), but it could be more like something on the tip of your tongue or something that just exists unknown; it's there, but you can't even name it, let alone know it, no matter how hard you try. In the case of "Epic," it's most likely sexual, although the exact act - or whether it's sexuality in general - is what remains ambiguous. Ambiguous enough that people can put their own non-sexual spin on it.
I personally think this is one of those songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" or Faith No More's "Epic," a meditation on a general topic where the exact subject is intentionally ambiguous. Clearly there's a simple lesson that's hard to learn and easy to deny. What is it? That you'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling, i.e., you can't think or act your way out of love? That you can't skip or stop heartbreak? That you can't make someone love you if they don't? That your past affects your future? That the protagonist doesn't like boys in that way? All seem like valid interpretations, all inspired by the experiences that built the song and the imagery in it.
Since I brought them up, the other two songs, though probably not associated outside this comment, talk about something that's right in front of you yet can't be grasped. In the case of "Blowin'," it's probably an evident truth denied (sort of like "Least Complicated"), but it could be more like something on the tip of your tongue or something that just exists unknown; it's there, but you can't even name it, let alone know it, no matter how hard you try. In the case of "Epic," it's most likely sexual, although the exact act - or whether it's sexuality in general - is what remains ambiguous. Ambiguous enough that people can put their own non-sexual spin on it.